A better reason Bible Reading: Acts 13:1-4
We should desire to know God’s will concerning whatever we do because He knows everything about everything. This was our emphasis last week. But beyond the success that it enables us to achieve and the needs that are met, there is something more important. Knowing and doing the will of God strengthens and nourishes our relationship with Him.
We know that communication is a vital ingredient in any good relationship. It is most effective when it is a two-way traffic. So many times I hear some men tell their wives over the phone that “I love you” and the women are swift to say “I love you too”. We know the importance of feedback in our earthly relationships. We experience the act of talking and listening. Have you ever imagined if only the wife is talking for over one week and there is no feedback from the husband? Well, women know better. But most of us have a wrong approach towards our relationship with God. We are most concerned about firing requests towards heaven from time to time but have never been concerned to know what God actually wants us to do. Our communication is usually a one-way traffic where we do all the talking. It should not be so.
Beloved, Christianity is so sweet. One way to experience this sweetness is to cultivate the habit of communicating effectively with God which includes, hearing from Him.
– tope aladenusi
In an attempt to safe guard the law of the land, they offended the law “architect”.
In trying to uphold the “dos and don’ts” of God, against all disobediences, they sinned against God and killed him in the flesh.
The fight for the law was furious, violent and aggressive but unknowing to them, the fight was against the very law giver (Luke 6:11)
Oh! What a glorious and wonderful occasion, the greatest event that ever occurred in the world.
The rich men of the world had spent on their ‘occasions’, but were not as glorious as this.
The ‘super nations’ had spent their resources, yet it wasn’t worth it.
Oh yes! It was worth it.
That noisy day yet dynamic,
That day of uproar yet brought peace,
That day of sorrow yet brought joy.
That day of panic though for that moment,
That day of great tears that such tears will never flow again,
In His own body, He bore all for the whole world
When love lifted Him high
Yes on a rugged tree, made across each other.
It wasn’t easy but it was worth it.
Blood was shed but its efficacy is for generations yet untold.
‘It is finished’ was His last word.
‘He gave up the ghost’ was the last event up there on the cross.
It is done, alas everything was perfect…
His ascension on the third day marked the glorious triumphal entry.
Love killed God.
Love sacrificed God for humanity.
Yet it was worth it
Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world, made manifest that day.
Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world,
Bravo! Excellent! Superb! Great!
– funmi aina
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” I Peter 2:24 (NIV)
Your reality is created by your perspective. The position from which you look determines what you see. If you’re looking down from the mountain top, everything looks so small. But if you are looking at things from the ground, everything looks so big.
You many have been diagnosed by medical science as having an incurable disease. What matters is not what the doctor said. What matter is what you see. What do you see?
Do you see yourself as a sorry case marked for death? If you do, you’re looking from the ground. If you will, you may follow me down the Via Dolorosa, up the mount ofGolgotha to the place of the skull where the savior was crucified. Then look down at your sickness from that mountain and you will find out that you are not ‘the sick’ but ‘the healed’.
Jesus bore forty stripes minus one on his back and bled on that mountain to secure your healing. By his wounds, you were healed. Walk into that healing by faith today. It is yours NOW!
– Dr deji Oyebamiji
| Information/knowledge is power. But in the search for knowledge you will be exposed to so many books, authors, materials, information etc. confusion sets in. Which is correct? Which approach is best? Which do I experiment first? Why so many contradictions? Save your self the hassles. Start from the word.
Thank God we are Christians and therefore custodians of wisdom, for Christ became wisdom for us. Listen friends, all knowledge and wisdom whose foundation is not the word of God might appear to work, but it will fail. “The wisdom of this age (as dynamic as it is) commeth to nothing” 1 Cor 2:6. Don’t get carried away by the wisdom of men. Results you get from their practice are limited and frail.
The Word of God as contained in scriptures still remains supreme. Start from there. Understand that each time you study the word you are “handling the word of life”. I love that. The Word of life. The Word is the creative force of God. By it all things were created, without the Word was nothing made that was made (John 1:3). All things are sustained by the same Word (Heb 1:3). The totality of life is the Word.
It opens us up to unlimited possibilities. There is no limit to what you can create when you handle the word correctly. Ours is an uncertain world from start to finish. Where do I get capital? How do I protect my investment? Suppose I loose all? Thieves? Stock market crash? Depression? So many frightening alternatives.
But with the word, all things are certain. All things and situations answers to the Word. “We learn how to abound and how to be abased…we learn the secret of life, How to remain the same under all conditions”. We are not afraid to start small. We’ve learnt not to despise little beginnings. We are not afraid to launch out. we have the spirit of boldness…we are coordinated and not ruffled…we have a sound mind….we are not afraid of where to get start up capital…we’ve learnt to call those things that are not as though they were. We have evidence of unseen realities. With the word, I have the assurance my business will prosper…and I know I can rise again seven times in seven. Glory!
The word is to sure. It cannot fail. It is consistent, not time barred nor does it become obsolete. It is not a respecter of persons, governments, policies of economic upheavals. I have read so many books on investment but none can compare to the wisdom discovered in scriptures.
So friends “I commend you to God and to the Word of his power which is able to build you up and give you (deliver to you) an inheritance among those that are sanctified…to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now has been made manifest by the prophetic scriptures…” Rom 16:25-26
-emmanuel aladenusi
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It is no news today that people always have reasons why they don’t pray regularly. Conducive environment is usually top on the list.
Come to think of it, what if you have been busy throughout the day, and you are free in the evening when fagged and tired; do you pray? Paul’s admonition re-occurs to me when I’ve not found a comfortable environment. “I will therefore that men pray EVERYWHERE, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting.” (I Timothy 2:8)
It was said of Kathryn Kulman that, she always mutters some things anywhere she’s found, even while walking. She latter told her congregation that she had cultivated the habit of praying in the spirit always, every time.
A beloved brother relayed to me sometimes ago his experience in the University. As his manner was, he was praising God in the bathroom while having his bath, suddenly a man of another faith shouted at him in condemnation for calling upon God in an ungodly place like the bathroom.
I thought we are the circumcision that worship God in the spirit and have no confidence in the flesh. (Phillipians.3:3). Our spiritual communication and relationship with God does not respect any environment. It is purely spiritual. Next time, wherever you find yourself, at whatever time of the day, just keep praying.
-adeyiga awomuti
I have had cause to witness many families weathering stormy periods. Few people take it in their stride, while many others fall apart at such periods.
A member of the family is ill or is not living up to our expectations; worse still, someone may have been diagnosed with an incurable illness.
Our worst characteristics get to show-up at such times, we fear, we fight back, we snap at people around us and concern ourselves with every other thing save that which we should. ‘Entertain no worry, but under all circumstances let your petitions be made known before God by prayer and pleading along with thanksgiving.’ (Philippians 4:6)
For those going through stormy periods at the moment; I have this to say: the storm is only for a while, it has come and it will pass, you can either sit it out or command it to stop. Remember, Jesus slept while a physical storm raged during a boat trip he had with his disciples; his response to the storm was to command it to BE STILL when the disciples woke him up for fear that they would all perish. No storm can withstand his omnipotence. We know the end of the story from the beginning- we are more than conquerors. The struggles of day-to-day may not look like it, especially with family life but it does not change the mind of God concerning us and our life’s story- “whatsoever is born of God overcomes” (1John 5:4)
Take charge and exercise the dominion given you by virtue of sonship, you too can remain calm in a storm and better still, you can also calm storms.
– Dr. ifelayo ojo
Let us carry out a very brief opinion poll. No cash prises though. Why would you not continue in sin?
A huge percentage says because sin is bad
Another percentage says because sin has terrible consequences.
Let’s consider God’s view point on this issue. Why should you and I not make a habit of sin?
What, shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Romans 6:1,2
But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named amongst you, as becometh saints. Ephesians 5:3
The reason you and I have been called to live a life free of sin is not just because they are out rightly evil or because they would prove to people something has come over you. Rather it is because we have been made new; in the very likeness of God.
Once we ran under the course of this world, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath … but now we have been set free with a new seal and mark upon our spirit.
We can’t be comfortable in those things anymore.
Imagine a fish given a remarkable transformation into a wild dog. You bet it would find the water less appealing. In fact it would abhor it totally. Not because it has anything to prove but because it’s new life runs contrary to that. It is a new being.
Consider this next time that urge comes to just give in a little. Realise you have been made new in Christ Jesus; A child of God in righteousness.
Don’t be fooled, God has not called you to a life of struggle with sin. You have been given the victory over sin. The word says that sin shall no more have dominion over you because you are under grace and not under the law – Romans 6:14. The slave it (sin) once had rule over is gone. There is a new man now around
Get out of that slave mentality to sin and all its devices. Realise you have got what it takes to say No and to live in righteousness unto God (Titus 2:11 – 13). I know you may have thought it is impossible to live free of sin. But thank God for the victory we have obtained in Christ Jesus. It’s no mistake when John said we cannot continue in sin. Note the word cannot. 1st John 3:9
Catch you next week
– bolaji akanni
A better option Bible Reading – Psalm 121
It is better to live your life based on divinely inspired discernment than on experiments. It is better to rely on truth & conviction rather than on trial & error. Life is so short that you can’t afford to spend your whole time experimenting. It is possible to get things right the first time. I do encourage men to stand up if they have fallen, but I also know that like Jesus Christ, you can do without stumbling.
You are so engulfed in a few activities that you may not know which other activities have a direct impact on your life.
Your two eyes can only see a short distance and you need the help of the eyes that sees all things in the world at every microsecond.
Your brain cells do not process every latest information that is released into the world, so you need God to alert you of the ones that will propel you to the next level.
You may be certain about the present, but there is one who wants to reveal the future to you.
You may be trained to have a good assessment of people but you need the one who sees the deep secrets of every heart. Even the world has come to acknowledge that ‘Not all that glitters is gold’. You need the leading of God to pick out the gold among the glittering objects.
Knowing the will of God is so sweet; most times it grants you success with ease. It constantly ushers you into peace, power, progress and prosperity. It is something every man born of a woman should crave to know. It is a better option towards living a successful life.
– tope aladenusi
“Before you invest, investigate“. This has been the major rule of most investors. The human mind was originally & naturally configured by God to be a success, so it is not surprising to see much investigation before an investment is made. People want to know how lucrative a business is before they venture into it. Companies & organizations are critically analyzed before their shares are bought. No one wants to invest in a company that will soon experience a decline in profit margin or asset base, not to talk of liquidation.
Not too long ago, a popular bank folded up. I also know of a company whose profit dropped drastically because a doctor claimed that their product was harmful to human health. Such things cause some investors to weep. One major characteristic of almost all investments is Uncertainty – no one knows what could come up tomorrow. Some people in an attempt to solve this problem have concluded that the only investment you can have a high degree of certainty about is when you invest in your children. Their belief is that, in future, they get to pay back in many ways. This is true, but in some cases, the children becomes prodigal and in some other cases, the parents die even before their children are equipped enough to yield returns.
Amidst all these, there is only one investment in which you can be 100% sure that you will have a steady return. Jesus revealed it in Matt 6:19-20 … “Don’t store up treasure here on earth, where they can be eaten by moth and get rusty, and where thieves can break in and steal. Store up treasure in heaven where they will never be moth-eaten or rusty and where they will be safe from thieves”.
This doesn’t mean you should not trade or have earthly investments. Rather, it means that you should not see earthly investments as the best and most valuable. Don’t confide in them for futurity and security because they are liable to loss, rust & corruption. Moreover, they yield returns infinitely lower than kingdom investment.
Kingdom investment has unparallel advantages: it is the only way to make perishable goods/money eternal, because it yields steady returns in this life and in the life to come. It cannot experience liquidation or distress because God manages it. It has no iota of uncertainty because you can be dead sure that God cannot play games with you. It is a treasure that brings steady pleasure without any pressure. The good news is that you can participate in kingdom investment wherever you are and at any time you want. Contribute your time, money & life to God’s work. Support the church and missionaries. Give to other believers. Help the poor always. Whenever you receive your pay cheque or pay envelope, before you venture into earthly investments, go for the bigger one —KINGDOM INVESTMENT!
– tope aladenusi
Luke 14:5 Then He answered them, saying, “Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?”
The WordPower dictionary defines Sabbath as ‘a day of rest and worship…’.I’ll not go any deeper on Sabbath but two critical words in the definition are ‘rest’ and ‘worship’. Let’s settle on ‘rest’. Weekends are resting days for most workers except some businessmen who may see this as their peak time to make money since people are in a relaxing, carnival and spendthrift mood.
For those employed, the contracts spell out everything: days and hours of work, and leave entitled. Anything that contradicts this may see the employer on a collision course with the employees. And it’s right for them to get relief from work as per the contract terms. On some occasions however, the employer may be required to beg or sometimes demand the services of employees when they are supposed to be off. This may be mostly when a certain started project must end. A good example is the case of construction projects
-when deadlines must be met,
-when a mixture of building materials may crystallize and get spoiled if not used or
-when construction of a building must be done to a certain joint before halting.
Friction may sometimes flare up when the employer feels it critical for the employees to go on working. The inability of the employer to pay some astronomical overtime premiums may be a catalyst to the flare-up.
So, do employees in the above picturesque scenario leave the donkey lying in the pit? The employees have the right to do so since they will be applying the contract terms to the letter. But in fairness of things, they should help out unless it has been proven that this is the habit of the employer. For if the donkey dies the employer may need to retrench some fellows due to reduced capacity. This is one reason why they should help. They should think the business as their own and this is true, they are in the business to earn. We saw in Ephesians 6:5-9 that whatever we do, we should do it as unto Christ. This is reason number two why the employees may need to help. All that is right may not always be righteous before the eyes of God. We may do things that are right according to contractual agreements but end up showing the face of someone else, not Christ. God is fair, just and full of goodness and would want us to do unto others what we would expect them to do to us!
– johnstone katuku